Nigerian Head of State General Sani Abacha cancelled
a highly publicised visit to the economic capital,
Lagos, on Wednesday, hours before he was due to depart,
AFP reported. The decision reportedly embarrassed city
officials, who had encouraged residents to welcome
Abacha's first appearance in Lagos since he moved Nigeria's
capital to Abuja in 1994. According to AFP, Lagos is
widely seen as an opposition stronghold. State military
administrator Colonel Mohammed Buba Marwa told waiting
crowds Abacha was unable to come because of "unforeseen
circumstances". However, Marwa gave no further
details. Lagos police had earlier banned all opposition
protests during Abacha's visit, AFP reported.

Protest planned

But in spite of the government's increasingly tough
line, opposition groups announced a series of actions
to mark the second anniversary on Thursday of the murder
of Kudiratu Abiola, wife of gaoled opposition leader
Moshood Abiola, AFP reported. According to the news
agency, opposition members say the military government
had Kudiratu Abiola shot dead in 1996 after she intensified
efforts to release her husband, widely believed to
have won 1993 elections annulled by the army. Inquiries
into the killing were never concluded, AFP said.

The opposition called on people to wear black and deliver
symbolic coffins to military headquarters across the
country addressed to Abacha. According to AFP, a dozen
opposition supporters have been killed in clashes with
police in recent weeks while some 50 others have also
been detained.

Opponents challenge Abacha candidacy

Meanwhile, four human rights and pro-democracy activists
made a fresh legal challenge to Abacha's adoption earlier
this year by Nigeria's five registered political parties
as a consensus candidate in August's presidential elections,
AFP reported. The suit filed at Lagos High Court by
leading opposition lawyer Chief Gani Fawehinmi alleged
the candidacy contravenes a 1996 electoral law banning
political parties from putting forward serving military
officers during Nigeria's transition-to-civilian rule
programme.

However, Abacha has not yet said he will stand in the
elections despite widespread speculation he is determined
to remain president. A federal court of appeal said
on Monday it lacked jurisdiction over a similar action
brought by two would-be presidential candidates, Tunji
Braithwaite and Mohammed Dikko Yusufu.

Lawyer arrested

The Nigerian State Security Service has arrested a lawyer
defending a human and environmental rights activist
last Friday, Human Rights Watch announced on Tuesday.
According to the New York-based group, Bamidele Aturu
was detained when he went to a Lagos police station
to request bail for Isaac Osuoka, co-ordinator of Oil
Watch Africa and an Environmental Rights Action (ERA)
activist.

The executive director of the group's Africa section,
Peter Takirambudde, called for the immediate release
of both men and all other Nigerian political prisoners.
"The Nigerian government is flying in the face
of international law with these arrests," he said.

SIERRA LEONE: Chief prosecutor warns AFRC defence lawyers

Sierra Leone's chief prosecutor warned defence lawyers
acting for 59 members of the former ruling Armed Forces
Revolutionary Council (AFRC) to take treason briefs
seriously or face investigation, AFP reported on Tuesday.
Attorney General Solomon Berewa said some lawyers were
not acting in the best interests of their clients.
Berewa alleged lawyers who "absented themselves
even when witnesses are giving evidence against their
clients" were "unprofessional". Lawyers
for at least two defendants had reportedly withdrawn
from the trials for "personal reasons".

According to AFP sources, the Sierra Leonean government
has been "desperate" to demonstrate the fairness
of trials for AFRC members captured when the West African
intervention force, ECOMOG, restored Sierra Leone's
civilian president, Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah to power
in February.

Britain proposes arms embargo adjustment

Britain circulated draft proposals to other UN Security
Council members on Tuesday exempting the Sierra Leonean
government from the current UN arms embargo, AFP reported.
According to the news agency, the draft resolution
also releases ECOMOG from the arms ban.

The move follows accusations in Britain that the Foreign
Office had assented to covert arms shipments used to
help restore Sierra Leone's former military government.

LIBERIA: Taylor awarded doctorate

Liberia's President Charles Taylor was awarded an honorary
doctorate by the University of Liberia on Tuesday for
his commitment to "good governance and the rule
of law", AFP reported. Taylor, a former faction
leader during Liberia's seven-year civil war, was elected
president last July.

EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Further protests at death sentences

Amnesty International said on Wednesday it was concerned
that 15 people sentenced to death by a military court
in Equatorial Guinea for separatist attacks last January
might be executed "imminently".

In a statement calling on the government not carry out
the death sentences, Amnesty said: "It is usual
that people sentenced to death in Equatorial Guinea
are executed very quickly. There is no right of appeal
against convictions and sentences imposed by military
courts. These courts are neither independent nor impartial
and use 'most summary' procedures, severely curtailing
the right to an adequate defence."

Officials said the defendants were convicted of terrorism,
treason and illegal possession of weapons. Of the 113
tried last week, more than 50 defendants were served
prison terms ranging from six to 24 years. The others
were acquitted.

The attacks in January occurred in Equatorial Guinea's
main island of Bioko, where the indigenous Bubi minority
has been seen self-determination. Meanwhile, AFP reported
on Wednesday that President Omar Bongo had sent his
personal representative, Michel Essonghe, to Equatorial
Guinea with a plea for clemency.

CHAD: Parliamentarian detained

A Chadian opposition member of parliament who accused
the president of the National Assembly of accepting
money from an oil company has been detained for questioning,
AFP reported on Tuesday.

It said the politician, Ngarledjy Yorongar, the only
parliamentary representative of the Federation d'Action
pour la Republique (FAR), had been deprived of his
parliamentary immunity. The action stems from a newspaper
interview nearly a year ago in which AFP said Yorongar
accused the assembly president, Wadal Abdelkader Kamougue,
of receiving the equivalent of FFr 15 million from
the French company, ELF It said Yorongar was due to
address members of the European Parliament in Brussels
next week on multinational oil projects in Chad.

NIGER: Opposition activists released

The authorities in Niger have "provisionally"
released 29 opposition activists who were detained
in recent weeks during anti-government demonstrations
in several towns around the country, AFP reported on
Wednesday. The dispatch, quoting opposition sources,
not give conditions for their release.

WEST AFRICA: Aid funds for Sao Tome and Principe, Burkina
Faso

The African Development Fund (FAD) has granted Sao Tome
and Principe a loan of US$ 2.53 million to help alleviate
poverty, AFP reported on Wednesday. It also said the
FAD, a branch of the African Development Bank reserved
for the poorest nations, had also approved US$ 956,000
for improvement of small-scale rural water projects
in Burkina Faso.

Mano River Union

The leaders of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea will
hold talks this week aimed at reviving the defunct
Mano River Union (MRU), AFP reported on Wednesday.
The meeting was to be held in the Guinean capital,
Conakry. "The revival of the union is an important
mechanism to foster peace, stability, youth, employment
and economic integration in the sub-region," Lamain
Camara, the Guinean foreign minister said. AFP said
the MRU, founded in 1973, had achieved little beyond
the construction of a road linking the capitals of
Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Abidjan, 2 June 1735 gmt

[ends]

[The material contained in this communication comes
to you via IRIN West Africa, a UN humanitarian information
unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of
the United Nations or its agencies. UN IRIN-WA Tel:
+225 21 73 66 Fax: +225 21 63 35 e-mail: irin-wa@africaonline.co.ci
for more information or subscription. If you re-print,
copy, archive or re-post this report, please retain
this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts
should include attribution to the original sources.
IRIN reports are archived on the Web at: http://www.reliefweb.int/emergenc
or can be retrieved automatically by sending e-mail
to archive@dha.unon.org . Mailing list: irin-wa-updates]